Operatives in the roofing industry have called for professionalism in the roofing sheets industry to limit production of substandard materials and provide value to property owners.

They advocated roof management asset plan and programme as a maintenance policy to safe money expended in restoration of dilapidated roofs by firms and individuals.

The Managing Director, Plusworld Roofing, Mr. John Igbaifua, who spoke in Lagos on the sidelines of Gazelle News award presented to the firm, urged government to provide foreign exchange for roofing manufacturers to import raw materials.

He explained that one of the problems is lack of professionalism as the entry level is low, thereby, creating opportunity for all kinds of people to participate in the profession.

“Some of the chemicals and substances that we use are imported and the issue of inflation and foreign exchange affects our business at this time. Like every other sector offering goods and services, there is an increase in prices at the moment all over the world and supply chain is disrupted. So, items that should take two or three months to bring in, now takes like six months,” he said.

Another major challenge is the lack of adequate insurance for home users and contractors when there is an accident.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Imran roofing, Ayyub Gboyega, said the inflationary trend is affecting the business and the purchasing power of most Nigerians, as many couldn’t afford the increasing cost of roofing sheets.

Gboyega said: “Dollar to naira rate that used to be N300 before is now over N500. Government needs to place policy that ensure enabling environment for the operators.

“Three years ago, the cost of aluminum, which used to be N2, 500 per metre now range from N3, 000 to N4, 000 at the building material market due to inflation and foreign exchange crisis.

“Due to customs clearing cost, most dealers would have to add that cost to their selling price. The business now requires huge amount of money to invest in it.”

IN a related development, Igbaifua disclosed that the firm has begun its 1,000 public schools roofing renovation project in the country.

The project, he noted, is one of the firms’ social impact programmes, under its corporate investment platform. It aimed at collaborating with non-governmental organisations, the private and public sector to renovate and restore dilapidated school roofing systems in the next five years.

He said: “We are pioneering roof restoration in Nigeria and the roof maintenance industry. The school roofing systems will be restored from their present conditions to a more environmentally friendly. The 1,000-roof restoration project is one of our social impact programme and we are training children on how to do it by themselves.

“A percentage of what we earn is set aside for that project. We started in 2020 but unfortunately COVID-19 pandemic affected us and we were able to do about two schools in Ibadan. Besides, we are just trying to recalibrate because COVID-19 is just gradually wielding up but before the end of this year, we plan to reactivate the programme.”

Source:Guardian